Experiment
by Englishgirl
Summary: Harry awakes in a strange hospital room, secured to the bed. He can't remember how he got there, and what is Dumbledore hiding?
1. Default Chapter

Experiment

Harry drifted awake, but he did not open his eyes, something was amiss, but he wasn't sure what. He had the feeling that he should be afraid but couldn't remember why. He couldn't remember going to bed the previous night. The last thing he remembered was leaving the Dursley house to go for a walk.

Harry's eyes snapped open. He felt as though he had come out worse in a fight. The sterile smell suggested to Harry that he was in a hospital of some kind. Looking around him he saw several magical machines, giving off strange chirping or beeping noises every few seconds.

Why was he here? Feeling as though he was trying to see through thick fog harry tried to remember, head pounding. There was a crash outside of the room. Harry tried to sit up. He got halfway up before he realised that something was restraining him. He was tied to the bed by his wrists and ankles. Laying back down, now close to panic, he examined himself as best he could. He was dressed in a white hospital robe, a blanket pulled up to around his waist.

The machines were attached to him. One seemed to be pumping something strange and green into a vein on his arm. There were more crashes outside. Harry struggled fruitlessly against the bonds. He called for help, shouting as loud as he could. His throat was sore, and his voice cracked.

The door opened with a bang and Dumbledore entered, his wand in one hand, the same furious expression on his face as he had worn in Moody's office that day. As he caught sight of Harry his expression softened. Several order members entered behind him.

"Harry!" He came over and began examining Harry as well as the machines that he was attached to.

"Professor, where am I? Is this a hospital?"

"how much do you remember?"

"I was at the Dursleys..."

Dumbledore nodded slowly and disconnected the machine pumping the green stuff into Harry. "You don't remember anything?"

"No."

Dumbledore looked over at the other order members for a moment. "I can't say I'm surprised. You've been seriously ill. You collapsed outside the Dursley house and taken here."

Harry closed his eyes for a second as his headache began to build. Dumbledore continued to disconnect the machines from Harry. When he untied the bonds securing Harry to the bed he nearly sobbed with relief.

"Why was I tied down?"

"You're illness caused hallucinations and memory loss. They had to secure you so that you didn't become confused and harm yourself."

"Oh. How long have I been here?" Harry asked, slightly horrified. No wonder he had such a bad headache.

"Since the 10th of July. It's the 15th of August now." Harry raised his eyebrows. That meant that he had over a month of memories missing. Then again if he'd been so critically ill maybe it was good that he didn't remember.

"What was all the noise outside?" Harry asked. Eyeing the wands that the order members were holding.

"Deatheaters." Dumbledore said simply. "They found out where you were and attacked. We need you to come back and finish recovering at headquarters. Its not safe for you here."

"Why did you send me here in the first place?" Harry asked. His headache was now blurring his vision and he began to feel vaguely sick.

"We didn't. An emergency medi-wizard team sent you here. We had no idea where you were for weeks – as we're not related to you they didn't tell us that they had you."

Harry sat up slightly, now that he was free of all the machines. He was shaking badly, and almost fell backwards to laying down. Dumbledore supported him by wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Are you alright?"

"No." Harry replied, through the haze "I don't feel well."

Dumbledore gestured for Arthur Weasley to approach.

Arthur lifted Harry gently and whispered, "It'll be okay now, just relax." And the two of them portkeyed away.

Harry and Arthur reappeared in the cavernous kitchen of Grimmauld Place. The entire Weasley family, along with several Hogwarts staff members were waiting anxiously.

"Harry!" Molly exclaimed and rushed over to where he lay in Arthurs arms – face pressed against Authur, eyes shut trying to block out the headache and nausea.

"Not now Molly." Her husband said gently.

Pomfrey and McGonnagall approached "Lets take him upstairs." Pomfrey said authoritatively. "Sirius old room would be best, it's the biggest available room."

Arthur laid Harry on the large bed and stood back, muttering something Harry couldn't hear to the two women. Harry feeling his stomach lurch, muttered 'sick' wishing he could pass out. Poppy held out a bowl and Arthur held Harry into a sitting position, while Harry threw up, tears streaming down his face with the effort.

When Harry was finished he curled up into a little ball on the bed while Pomfrey examined him with Minerva's assistance.

"Harry I'm going to sedate you now, just drink this potion. I'll keep you asleep until I know you will feel better."

Harry took the goblet in a shaking hand and drank the sleeping draught. Laying his head on the pillow he immediately drifted off to sleep.


	2. chapter 2

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter (obviously)

Experiment chapter 2

When Harry next awoke, he was so sleepy he was tempted to turn over and go back to sleep. However he was prevented from doing that as somebody was holding his hand.

He sleepily looked towards the person grasping him and his eyes fell upon Mrs Weasley. "Mrs Weasley?"

"Good morning Harry! How are you feeling?"

Harry did a quick self assessment "A lot better thanks."

"That's good. You've been asleep for 3 days."

"Am I cured?"

Molly smiled. "Yes you are."

Harry sat up and was pleased to note that the flimsy hospital robe had been replaced by pyjamas.

"I imagine you're hungry?"

"Starving." Harry replied as his stomach gave a loud rumble.

Molly handed Harry a dressing gown and helped him down the stairs into the kitchen.

Ron and Ginny were chatting at the end of the table. Lupin and Arthur were examining a muggle firearm and Tonks was reading the Daily Prophet.

They all looked up as Harry was led in. he felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. Lupin smiled warmly as Harry sat down near Ron. "Hi Harry! Glad to see you're up mate!"

"Hi." Harry said to Ron and Ginny. He felt slightly awkward as he had lost a whole months memory. He was at a bit of a loss over what to talk about.

Remus left Arthur and and moved next to Harry. "Feeling better now then?"

"Yeah" Harry nodded "Its weird not remembering."

"I'll bet it is." Remus said in agreement. "You missed your birthday."He added after a few moments.

Harry furrowed his brow. "I probably didn't miss much."

"We saved your presents for you." Ron said.

At that moment Molly bustled up to Harry and plonked a plate of breakfast in front of him. "Harry, you did really well in your OWLs" Arthur said, handing Harry a list of Griffindor results.

"I can get into the auror classes!" Harry said in surprise. Everyone congratulated him, and they went back to eating.

When Harry was finished he put his fork down and said "I really need a shower, can I go?"

"Of course. I'll help you up the stairs." Lupin said.

Harry entered the bathroom, locking the door behind him. His eyes caught sight of a full length mirror. He was ghostly pale and his hair even more unkempt than usual. He was also sporting dark circles under his eyes.

As he undid his pyjama top and let it fall to the ground he gasped in surprise. "What happened to you!?" The mirror piped up in horror. To say Harry had lost weight was an understatement. You could count all of his ribs as they stuck out sharply. Didn't they feed him at the hospital?

Harry saw many red marks where the machines had been attached, and small bruises littered his form randomly. Around each wrist was a bandage that smelled faintly of healing potion. Tentatively, he unwound the one around his left wrist. There was a dark red line beneath the bandage, with large healing scabs where the bonds had obviously chafed to the point of drawing blood.

Just how violent had his hallucinations been, and why hadn't his arms been cared for properly?

Sighing in frustration Harry unwound the rest of the bandages and taking of his remaining clothes got into the shower. The red lines were around both wrists and ankles. Harry washed the dirt and grease from his hair with warm soapy water.

When he was clean, Harry wrapped a towel around himself and walked shakily back to the room he had woken up in. Someone had left a set of clothes at the end of the bed for him. As Harry pulled them on he looked around the room. So, this was Sirius's room.

Harry noticed with a shudder that some of his godfather's things were still lying around. Harry picked up a photograph that had been sitting on the bedside table. It was the four marauders. James and Remus waved merrily up at him. Pettigrew was sitting on the ground staring at the ground. Sirius was smiling sadly up at Harry, almost frozen in place like in a muggle photograph.

Harry choked back a tide of sadness and made his way out of the room. He approached the stairs and began to make his way down. About halfway he realised his mistake. Harry gripped the banister tightly as his knees threatened to give way. He may be cured but he still felt very weak.

The front door opened quietly. Harry looked down the stairs to see who entered. Severus Snape walked in and froze at the sight of Harry swaying on the stairs.

"Bitten off more than you can chew potter?" Snape asked with a smirk.

Harry glared and tried to continue his descent of the stairs. As he put his foot on the next step down, he felt the leg holding his weight buckle. Snape dashed up the stairs and caught him before he could fall.

"Come on." Snape said coldly and helped the teenager down the stairs and into the kitchen. Harry sat down at the table.

"Are you alright Harry? I was just about to come and get you." Lupin said.

"Just a bit shaky." Harry said

"Poppy is coming by in a short while to give you a strengthening potion. You should feel a lot better after that."

Harry smiled gratefully. Ron came over to Harry's seat with a large bag full of gifts.

Harry's eyes widened. "I've never had this many presents before." Harry said in surprise.

"You were ill." Remus commented

"The sympathy vote." Ron said with a smile. I think Moody even got you something!"

Harry sat and undid his gifts. The adult members of the order obviously didn't go much on his fashion sense as Harry had been bought lots of clothes and casual robes. As Harry unwrapped Moody's gift he gasped. Moody had given him a little knife that he could conceal in a shoe "in case of capture" The note had said.

Ron and the other weasley children had bought him mountains of sweets and Hermione had got him wand polish and a guide to wand care.

Professor Dumbledore entered the room in the middle of the present opening and stood there smiling. "Feeling better Harry?" he asked

"Yes thank you" Harry replied.

Dumbledore approached the table and gave harry a key. "This will unlock your broomstick. Consider you quidditch ban lifted."

"Thank you sir."

Dumbledore gave Harry the strengthening potion, which Harry drank, immediately feeling stronger. "Harry, I would like a word in private. Perhaps we could go to the drawing room?"

Harry nodded and followed the headmaster from the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

Experiment chapter 3:

Harry sat down in an armchair opposite the headmaster, nervously twisting his sleeve in this fingers. The headmaster looked very sombre.

"harry, I need to inform you of what you missed while you were at the hospital."

Harry nodded.

"Did I miss much?"

"there hasn't been much activity from voldemort, although his deatheaters have been relatively active. There have been some attacks on muggles and aurors."

"Have many people been hurt Sir?"

"Yes. That is not however what I wish to discuss with you." Albus said slowly.

"What's wrong?"

Cornelius fudge may be launching a battle against Voldemort now from the ministry, but his relationship with me and you is as bad as ever."

Harry frowned, what could the man's problem be this time.

"Our esteemed minister seems to be under the impression that I will use you to somehow bring the ministry down while they are focusing on voldemort."

"How?"

"You survived against Voldemort 15 years ago, Fudge believes that you must possess a very dark power in order to accomplish this, which only I know about. He wants you out of Hogwarts."

Anger rushed through Harry, WHY couldn't people just leave him alone? Just for once?!

"I want you to avoid at all costs interaction with any members of the ministry that are not in the order." Fudge is desparate to arrest you. Harry, I must ask you to avoid Hogsmead this year, lay low and give him NO grounds to get to you."

"Alright." Harry felt some gloom settle. "I'll try."

"Meanwhile Harry, although fudge knows not of the prophecy we do. While you were at the hospital you began showing some signs of unusual magical ability. I am reliably informed that you had several magical outbursts when you were distressed."

"Outbursts?"

"Just like releases of magical power, similar in a sense to an electrical charge. It accomplished nothing, but reveals a huge potential within you that is untapped, related to strong emotions."

"It happened before." Harry said, suddenly remembering.

"When?" Dumbledore said sharply

"Last summer, a year ago. I felt a charge run through me."

"Tell me what you remember about what triggered it." Albus requested gently

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Me and my uncle were arguing. He…."

"Go on." The headmaster prompted

"He had his hands around my neck. I couldn't breathe. Suddenly I felt this power run through me and he let go – like he was burnt or received a shock or something."

"I see." Albus nodded.

Harry looked down.

"I'm sorry that you ever had to live with them I really am. You understand why I had no

choice?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders "I guess so."

Harry decided to change the topic "What was wrong with me? Why am I covered in bruises and things?"

"You were suffering from Illithid fever." Dumbledore's mouth moved into a thin line reminiscent of MCGonnagall's "I have has strong words with the healers about their gross negligence in caring for you. The ones responsible have been disciplined."

Harry nodded.

"I will come and speak to you again soon Harry."

At that he stood and left the room.

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A few days passed, Harry felt more settled into life at Grimmauld place. He had spent the last few days resting and eating at the insistence of Mrs Weasley. He was gaining weight again.

Harry had been shocked when Remus had sat Harry down and told him that the large house had been left to him by Sirius. Apparantly, Sirius had always believed the Dursleys unsuitable and Sirius had wanted Harry to have somewhere to go as soon as the war was over or that he came of age.

Remus and the Weasleys had embarked on a project 'home sweet home' and every one was pitching in to make the house feel less like a derelict slum and more like a house. They were starting with the kitchen. Remus handed Harry, Ron and Ginny a brush each and a bucket of white paint. They had to do it the muggle way as they were to young for charming the brush to do it itself. Besides, Molly was getting annoyed with them all sitting around doing nothing.

Harry dipped the brush in the paint and began spreading the stuff smoothly over the old chipped brownish paint that had clearly been up for centuries. Next to Harry was Ginny, then there was Ron. Remus and Molly were cleaning decades of filth from the ornate tiled floor.

Harry was in a world of his own as he painted unitl he felt a nudge in the ribs from Ginny. Ron was dipping his brush into the paint and ginny was putting a large fake spider on Ron's bit of wall. She winked at Harry and continued with her brushing. Harry smiled wryly, clearly Fred and George were not the only pranksters in the family.

Ron turned back to the wall and a scream penetrated the comfortable silence of the kitchen.

Harry screamed as a needle pierced the skin on his arm.

A man was standing over him "No! Please! Please don't do this!"

Harry thrashed in his restraints

"Tighten those" The man said. The bonds constricted painfully. The man connected a potion to drip slowly through the needle.

"No!" Harry screamed as the fluid began to burn its way up his veins.

"Harry!" Hands gripped each of his upper arms gently. Harry opened his eyes. He was sitting in the floor leaning aginst the wall, with his arms hugging his knees.

Remus repeated "Harry! It's ok, you're safe here."

Harry stood up shakily with Remus's help

"I was scared." Harry whispered "They wanted to hurt me! I tried to escape! The bonds were too tight!" By the end he was shouting.

Remus hugged Harry to him, trying to provide some comfort.

"I don't understand." Harry said "Did that really happen or was that a hallucination?"

"I'll contact Dumbledore Harry. He might be able to explain."

Harry nodded. "Go and get changed. You're covered in paint."

Harry went up the stairs towards the bathroom. As he walked he passed the Black family library. He paused and then entered "What the hell was illithid fever anyway?"

Finding a book on magical ailments, Harry began to read.

'Illithid fever is an illness that affects the brain. It is normally triggered by a virus, but can also occur as a result of a failed attempt at mind control.

The main symptoms include, hallucinations, paranoia, memory loss, confusion and in severe cases paralysis'

"Seems to fit so far, apart from the paralysis" Harry muttered to himself

'Treatment usually takes two weeks after initial diagnosis. Healers are advised to keep the patients in a calm relaxing environment, away from stressful stimuli, and the 'illithid' potion is to be drunk 3 times a day until symptoms stop.'

"Ah." Harry thought. Unless the Hospital was filled with incompetent fools, then he had been lied to again. Harry sighed and made his way to his bedroom, kicking things in his path. He pulled on a new set of robes and marched into Ron's bedroom. Ron was trying to get paint off of his fingers with cleaning potion.

"Tell me everything you know about what happened to me." Harry demanded of his best friend.


	4. chapter 4

Experiment chapter 4

Ron looked up at his best friend in confusion.

"huh?" Ron asked.

Harry recounted what he read in the black family library. Ron looked down and started putting more effort into ridding himself of paint.

"Ron?" Harry asked. He was extremely annoyed; he knew he had been lied to.

"I thought you were dead." Ron muttered "We all did."

Harry bought his eyebrows together. "What do you mean?"

"During a shift change between two order members watching your house, you disappeared. We thought you might have been kidnapped! Everyone was looking for you. We weren't told much about what was going on – just that we shouldn't get our hopes up that we'd see you again."

"What?!" Harry said angrily "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Ron's face reddened "There were meetings everyday. Search parties, all sorts of things – then one day Dumbledore comes upstairs and tells us that you were in hospital up north somewhere and they were going to get you as soon as a guard was assembled, but to expect you do be quite ill when you arrived."

"We were told that they had checked the hospitals in London and surrey for you but hadn't thought to check any others, it didn't sound right to me – you could have been anywhere so why didn't they search everywhere. I thought the order had sources all around the country!"

"I suppose once Dumbledore thought up a good enough excuse about the Illithid fever he told you about it?"

"Yeah. We were told not to make a big deal out of the fact they didn't know where you were at first as you might still be quite paranoid or whatever"

Harry stood up suddenly and swore "WHY, why does this keep happening to me! When are people going to stop treating me like a child! This is MY life they're controlling, not theirs!"

"Think we should go find out what Lupin knows?" Ron asked nervously

"Yes, good idea, lets ask him why the thought lying was such a bloody good idea after what happened with the prophecy"

Harry stormed from the room, Ron in hot pursuit, ran down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Dumbledore was in the kitchen talking to Remus and Molly.

"Harry!" Dumbledore said smiling as Harry sat down at the table.

"Hello Professor. What will it be this time? Thought up a good cover us story for my flashback yet or would you like me to go away for ten minutes while you think of one?" Harry said sarcastically.

"Harry!" Lupin said warningly

"No that's quite alright Remus. I think its time we told him the truth."

Dumbledore looked at Ron "Could you give Harry and I some time to talk please?"

"No. He can stay." Harry stated brusquely.

Ron very nervously sat down next to Harry under the piercing glare of his mother.

"Very well." Dumbledore conceded

"What happened to me?" Harry asked

"First let me explain that what you are about to hear may come as a shock. I wanted you to begin the process of regaining your memories before I told you incase I triggered them all to come back at once. I know your feelings about deception, but once you fully remember everything I'm sure you will understand."

Harry felt himself tense up. He expected to be told another set of lies, or lame excuse, but now he was worried.

"We did of course hope that you would never remember."

"Remember what?"

"Have you ever heard of 'Daleside Halls?"

"No."

Remus flinched at the name of the place "According to the ministry of magic it does not exist. However, there have been a number of witness statements and rumours for most people to have built up theories as to what happens there. The ministry assign it to conspiracy; the only people that ever seem to publish information on it are those at the quibbler."

"What happens there?"

"Research."

"On what?" Harry asked fearfully.

"Magical creatures. For centuries people have been trying to unlock the mystery of the werewolf and other part humans. What is it that gives them their powers? Reports spanning decades tell of a place where people have been taken against their will. None of them are ever seen again, but rumour has it that horrible experiments aimed at increasing the offensive power of wizards have taken place.

Rumours include trying to separate the wolf and human in werewolves, using potions to try and harness the strength and power of vampires so that humans could be imbued with their strength and immortality while retaining none of the bad points, such as demon possession or aversion to sunlight."

Harry gulped, and looked over at a pale Remus.

"Until recently I doubted the place's existence myself. You were missing for weeks. We'd taken to all methods of location, from scrying to casting locator charms to walking around wooded areas calling your name. Eventually Molly Weasley was searching for you using a map.

We had placed one of the hairs from your comb into a power finding crystal and had swept it over map after map. Mrs weasley was trying again when suddenly the crystal glowed brightly and then shattered, leaving a burn mark on the map of the Yorkshire Dales. We believe it was a magical power surge from you that triggered that reaction from the crystal."

"Was I in this Daleside place?"

"Yes. We stormed it using the map and found you in a room tied down and calling for help. We were nearly too late, as I later found out from reading files of parchment that I found in the hospital detailing what had been done to you."

"Files?"

"You were a test subject; the ministry were holding you in that institution because they believe you might be the only person capable of destroying voldemort."

"So why tie me down and try to kill me?"

"They don't trust you to do it; they trust the strength of your power but not you."

Harry looked around in confusion

"When I had the flashback I remember being afraid, they wanted to hurt me, I tried to get away but I couldn't! What were they doing?" He was trembling slightly, his memories were returning he could tell, but they still weren't clear.

"They intended to use you as a weapon. A weapon to kill Voldemort."

"How?"

"Their first experiment was one of mind control. They were trying to crush your individuality, your mind, leaving you open to control by someone the ministry approved of."

Harry began to feel vaguely sick

"That plan did not work. You were too resilient, resisted potions and curses. They considered other methods such as dementors kiss or cruciatus, but did not want to do anything that would damage you too badly."

Harry jumped as Mrs Weasley put an arm around his shoulders "Hurry this up Dumbledore, he's shaking" Molly said in worried voice

"Harry, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked "Do you want me to stop?"

"No. Just tell me, I asked, now I need to be told."

"When that plan failed, they changed tack. They decided that instead they would remove your magic and use it, well do you know what a bomb is?"

Harry nodded jerkily.

"That's what they were doing to you when we found you, that green liquid was designed to separate your magic from your body cells, draw it all into your blood, so all they'd have to do would be to…."

"I understand." Harry cut in. "I don't need to know anymore. Just tell me how close did they come?"

"Very close, I believe that burst of magic was your bodies last ditch attempt to summon help, and luckily, Molly was searching for you at the time."

"Why can't I remember it?"

"I think that last burst of magic had one more function, to numb the pain of it for you. Some part of you I think wished you had no idea what was happening to you."

"How did I recover so fast?"

"Once I removed you from that contraption your magic returned to where it belongs, within every cell of your body, it's where it belongs, so it had no trouble re-integrating. It was the injuries you sustained while you were there that we had to heal, not the magic separation. When we found you, your body was growing weak, and beginning to shut itself off, but almost as soon as you were disconnected, it began to right itself."

"Do you have anymore questions?"

Harry shook his head and stood up. He walked over to the fire place, back to everyone else and tried to process what he'd been told.

Suddenly Harry felt as though something within him had broken. A floodgate opened as his own self-protective spell was broken. Harry cried out and fell to his knees.

Dumbledore was as his side in a second. "We thought this would happen. We're here. It will be alright, you are not alone." With a wave of his wand a small bed appeared a foot off the floor. Dumbledore eased Harry onto it.

Harry felt as though his head had filled with static, there was a confusion of sounds and images that he couldn't process. Someone held his hand. With another cry Harry felt the sounds separate into understandable noises and the pictures to make sense. He was remembering.


	5. chapter 5

Chapter 5

Harry was walking down the street, having just escaped the Dursleys for a stroll. He was miserable. Nightmares of Sirius' death came nightly, and during the day he spend his time bored stiff of dwelling on the past. This is what had lead him on his walk. He thought some exercise might clear his mind to allow him to be able to concentrate long enough to begin one of his homework essays.

Harry was slightly surprised to discover that while deep in thought he had wandered to the play park he had frequented the previous summer. He flopped onto a swing and began to gently swing back and forth.

A hand closed over Harry's mouth and he was pulled backwards off of the swing. Harry felt a jerk behind his navel as his captor activated a portkey. They slammed into the ground in a bare blue room. Harry was being held tightly by the captor who had a nasty grip on each of Harry's arms.

Looking around Harry saw that he was surrounded by people in lime green robes. He struggled strongly against the arms that held him while the people came closer. There were four men (including the man holding him) and two women.

One of the women, who bore a startling resemblance to Pansy Parkinson drew her wand and cast a charm on Harry that immobilised him. The man holding him lowered Harry to the ground, and took his wand.

"Who are you?" Harry questioned fiercely from his prone position on the tiled floor.

"That is not important." The woman snapped

"At least tell me where I am." Harry demanded

"You are in Daleside Halls; from this point forward YOU aren't anyone, just our test subject. If you do not behave we will punish you. Any attempts to escape will fail, so there is little point in trying." With that the woman waved her wand again and Harry's clothes were replaced by thin hospital robes.

"Let me go!" He shouted "I'm NOT your lab rat!"

The 'Parkinson' woman shook her head in annoyance and gestured for the men to pick Harry up. He was carried by his shoulders and legs into the adjoining room and placed on a bed.

One of the men waved his wand and restraints circled around Harry's wrists and ankles. He then lifted the immobilising charm and his captors left the room. Harry pulled with his arms to get free of the restraints, but they were too tight.

He began to hyperventilate. He was terrified. What had the woman meant by 'test subject? What kind of 'tests'. Harry had a gut feeling that Voldemort had nothing to do with this, and that was more frightening than anything else about the situation. Voldemort wanted him dead. That he could understand, given the prophecy.

But here, he did not even know who his enemy was, let alone what they might want with him.

Harry calmed his breathing and looked about the room. It was white and plain. The door was held shut by a series of complicated locks. Looking to one side Harry saw a set of machines lined up along the side of his bed. He had never seen anything of the like in the muggle world.

The door swung open and two people entered. Harry craned his neck to see who it might be. The woman who looked like pansy entered, followed by Cornelius fudge. He was deep in conversation, and spared Harry only the merest of passing glances.

"When can you begin?"

"Immediately."

"Begin what? What's happening here?" Harry questioned loudly

The minister spun round to face Harry. "I've had enough of you and Dumbledore meddling. This war will be won OUR way"

"What?" Harry spluttered, not understanding what the minister was talking about.

"Your magic was powerful enough to bring you know who down once. It will be again. But this time it will be wielded by us, not a child and certainly not Albus Dumbledore.!"

Harry felt his blood run cold. The ministry were going to try and use him like a weapon against Voldemort. "No! You can't keep me here!"

Fudge snorted "Can't I? You were instrumental in the return of You know who. It was your blood. I have every right to keep you here! Proceed with the testing Madame Parkinson."

So they are related, Harry thought as the she stepped forward and pushed a needle into his arm. "I'll pump the various potions through here as I really can't be bothered with the endless struggle that would be trying to get him to swallow them."

She levitated a bag of potion above Harry's head and it began to drip down into his arm.

"What will that do?" Fudge asked eying the potion

"It will subdue him sufficiently for him to be more receptive to the mind control testing."

"Excellent. I want regular updates." He smiled at the woman and swept from the room. The woman fiddled with the speed of at which the potion was dripping downwards and left the room herself.

Harry was again alone now and began writhing on the bed to dislodge the needle.A man poked his head round the door

"Don't do that or I'll petrify you."

Harry stopped

The man sighed "Here, listen to this. If you behave ill let you have it on whenever you want. If not…well your loss I suppose." With that a magical radio activated across the room and the man left.

The radio was doing a programme about whether the daily prophet could be trusted to report accurately about the war, and about Cornelius Fudge's pitiful attempts at a public apology about refusing to believe Dumbledore.

As the hours ticked by Harry began feeling very strange, a strange tiredness and detachment. Harry fell into a stupor, staring blankly at the ceiling, before dropping off to sleep.

When Harry awoke he was surrounded by people. The machined by his bed had been activated and connected to various parts of his body. Harry could feel things stuck to his head attached to a machine that was displaying lots of wavy lines in thin air above it.

A man stepped forward. "Legilimens"

The experience was nothing like how it had been with Snape. There were no replays of memories, just a pressure that was increasing on Harry's mind. He felt as though an invisible force was wrapping his mind, suffocating it. A second before the mental pain became agonising he realised this man was trying to possess him.

Harry felt the man force his mind to make him sit up. – the bonds had been removed. A plate was placed in front of Harry. He felt his arm lift and grasp the spoon. Soon he was eating the porridge, body completely out of Harry's own control. The pain was excruciating, He tried to get the man out of his mind, pushing with all his might against the suffocating force. Harry's hand went limp and he dropped the spoon as he won he battle over control of his fingers.

With another hard shove the man was gone from his mind and he flung himself from the bed, pushing the gasping man aside. He ran on shaking legs towards the door, and fumbled uselessly with the locks. Legs eventually giving out Harry fell to the floor and was sick. He then collapsed onto his side, a useless shaking mass. He was lifted up and tied back down. A few tears leaked from his eyes.

"Hmm". Parkinson said, checking her watch "Five minutes, not as good as expected. I want at least ten tomorrow morning."

The team of torturers nodded and followed her out. Harry descended into unconsciousness.


	6. chapter 6

Experiment chapter 6

The next few days passed in much the same way. Harry was tied down for most of the day, the radio on in the background. Harry ate the small meals he was given each day at wand point. It was always the same unappetizing muck, but he had to eat it.

The man had attempted to possess Harry several times since that first attempt. Each time, Harry fought the man off with what little energy he had left. He was still only able to control Harry for a few minutes. Harry did not know if this was due to the little he had learned under Snape's tutelage or something linked to his ability to cast off the imperius curse. Parkinson was getting more and more annoyed with each passing day and the previous night had slapped Harry around the face before leaving for the night.

Harry had attempted to escape a number of times, sometimes trying to break free of the bonds, other times running for the door as he had on his first day, but each time he was thwarted. He actually found himself annoyed that he was getting little reaction from any of the 'staff'. He would merely be put back in his bed with a half hearted 'don't do it again'. It was as though he was barely worthy of note. The only things that got any reaction were the results that they were gaining from each test of his resistance to possession.

When Harry forced the intruder from his mind for the ninth time, Parkinson's temper snapped yet again. "This isn't working! Collins inform the minister that the first test has failed."

Harry lay panting on the bed, and flinched violently when someone grabbed his arms to tie him down again.

"Prepare him for the second trial." Parkinson said.

"What's the second trial!" Harry demanded, not expecting a response

One of the men fixed a potion to drip down into the needle in Harry's arm.

"If he still has his mind in 5 days we can try magical suppression, said the youngest most eager looking woman, who Harry now knew was named 'Collins'.

"Will I be able to possess him then?" The man asked, who had now recovered from his last shoving from Harry's mind.

"Yes. There won't be anything left to resist."

"No! Please don't do this! If you want me to fight I will! But not like this!" Harry began to pull at his restraints, working and twisting his wrists to escape.

"Hold him!" Parkinson cried.

Fingers dug into harry's shoulders, and hands held his head still, mouth open. A sedative was forced down Harry's throat.

_Harry let out a choked sob as that memory flew through his mind. The hand that held his tightened, another gently stroking his hair. He could hear quiet reassurances from his headmaster. "It's ok Harry, you're alright, you're safe here."_

A fog settled into Harry's mind. He was so tired. He had no idea how much time had passed in this state, staring blankly up at the ceiling, feeling something draining away, but not having the power to care what it was.

Someone came in and adjusted a machine. Again, Harry felt the feeling that this was bad, but he didn't know how to make the bad thing go away and did not bother to try.

The person released Harry's arms and sat him up by tilting the top end of the bed up. A bowl was placed into Harry's lap and a spoon into his hand. Harry gazed at this blankly. It was familiar to him, he should be doing something. Harry lifted the spoon up in a shaking hand and stared at it. Minutes ticked by.

The person sighed and took the things away, pushing a passive Harry back into position to be restrained, and lifting each limp arm into it's restraint.

Something forced itself into Harry's mind, another presence. Harry let it in, he no longer was able to decide whether it was good or bad, not that it mattered. Harry experienced none of the previous pain as the man forced his body to first get up and use the toilet, then to copy a page out of a book onto a piece of parchment.

There was an elated sounding voice in the background. The man began to access Harry's memories, flipping through them without effort. Looking specifically for memories about Dumbledore and Harry's relationship and plans. Another presence surfaced in Harry's mind. This one had not been present there recently. It hurt.

Harry's forehead burned with agony, but nothing other than a small flinch escaped the boy. The man continued his possession, as though believing that this new thing within Harry's mind was a part of Harry himself.

The two personalities fought for dominance. The man at Harry's bedside screamed unable to escape as Voldemort fought to discover the man's identity.

Voldemort….that name was familiar. It was bad, very bad. His recently abused mind bought several images to Harry. A veil, a redhead screaming for her son's life, a tall black-haired man laughing merrily in a picture. Something stirred within Harry, a terrible force. Suddenly the two invaders were gone from Harry's mind, He could hear their screams echoing.

Harry was suddenly all too aware of his situation for the first time in who knows how long. The man stood explaining in a panting voice what had transpired to Parkinson and the minister. He then collapsed into a dead faint.

Fudge stepped back in horror. Harry bought his hands to his scar and moaned as the pain gradually subsided. He felt as though he had been jump started from a spark caused by the terrible memories the name 'voldemort' brought to the surface.

"Damn!" Parkinson yelled "He was so nearly beyond help! A few more days and there would have been no chance of him returning to this state."

"We could start the drug again. Mr Hayes was in full possession of potter for 20 minutes. All we need to do is bring him back to the level he was at this morning and then continue the dose for a bit longer" Fudge said, clearly beginning to see the test as a success.

Harry tried to slink off the bed unnoticed, but the door was guarded at the moment, and he was shortly restrained again.

"What you fail to realize fudge is that nearly a week of mind suppression was undone in seconds! If we intend to use him as a weapon, then him being able to gain control of himself at the thought of his enemy is not going to lead to us being in control!"

Fudge looked deflated. "Magic suppression?" He asked

"Its his magic we need – if we suppress his magic to control his mind then – wait – its his magic we need not him!"

"Madam?" Fudge asked

"I have an idea. Just give me 48 hours to work out how I can put it to effect."

"Granted." Fudge said "Now how about we go and have coffee. You can share your brilliant idea with me."

The two days passed in boredom for Harry. Nobody had entered his room the entire time. Harry suspected that his toiletry needs were being taken care of by a spell of some kind, and he was getting fluid directly into his arm through the needle.

Harry was at a stage of such boredom that he fancied that he might be loosing his mind, due to the fact that he had not had a proper conversation for at least 2 weeks. He found himself crying for no apparent reason at the music in the background – and began to talk to himself – and on occasion the radio – just to ease his lonliness. He was starving hungry – and was sure that he must have lost a fair bit of weight. The effect of this was a near constant headache and a feeling of extreme emptiness in his stomach.

Parkinson, fudge and a group of people entered the room, surrounding Harry's bed.

Parkinson began outlining her plan in a hurry to the other people, explaining that she and Fudge were expected at a meeting at the ministry. Harry's eyes widened. They were going to remove his magic and kill him – here in this bed!

"It will take about three weeks. Security during this time is paramount. The boy is not to be released from those restraints for ANY reason. If he escapes or finds a way to contact Dumbledore – our plan may be thwarted permanently.

The magic removal will be faster if the boy is weak. He has lost weight – that will help. I want him fed no more than once a day, although maintain the fluids that he is receiving – he will be useless dead." Parkinson glanced at her watch.

"We need to go. Report back to me tonight." She and fudge left the office.

One of the men approached. Harry felt like a trapped animal. He hated it when they all stood around him like this. The enormity of what was happening sunk in again – he was a prisoner of his government – about to be sacrificed so that a bungling politician could try to win a war. His magic would be used as a bomb. Made to explode to destroy Voldemort – and anyone else unlucky enough to be in the area.

Harry screamed as another needle pierced the skin on his arm.

"No! Please! Please don't do this!"

Harry thrashed in his restraints

"Tighten those" The man said. The bonds constricted painfully. The man connected a potion to drip slowly through the needle.

"No!" Harry screamed as the fluid began to burn its way up his veins.

_tears leaked from Harry's eyes as the memory of those final pain-filled weeks began to enter his mind._


	7. chapter 7

Experiment ch 7

This new potion was, for Harry worse than the others. It was a deep green colour and unlike the others, it did not make Harry feel calm and spaced out. He was in pain. It came and went, sometimes a dull ache and other times waves of nothing short of agony.

People only entered the room to feed Harry, and although he was degraded by the experience of being 'fed', he was starving and ate whatever he was given. The threat of force feeding Harry with a tube kept him compliant.

He was lying listening to 'magic moments' when he felt a warm sensation on his face. A few seconds later a woman came in and wiped across his face with a tissue. The previously white tissue now contained scarlet patches of blood.

"What?" Harry asked, but another wave of pain hit and he moaned.

"We are forcing your magic out of your blood. We theorise that you will suffer nosebleeds, bruising and sickness." The woman perched on the side of the bed. "Look, I'm doing this for the food of the world. I don't want to hurt you. It's not anything personal."

Harry snorted with disdain.

"I'll go and get you a pain suppressor." The woman said. She hurried out and returned with a potion that Harry drank, desperate for the pain to fade. After a few seconds, Harry felt better than he had for days.

"Please don't do this to me. Let me go. You don't even know where Voldemort is – how are you going to blow him up? This is murder, and no good ever comes of that. Please?"

The woman's young face took on a look of sadness. "Harry you don't understand. He is bound to attach us at some point. We can kill him then. Your sacrifice wont be wasted."

Harry fought to get up, anger coursing through him "No! You don't know what you're talking about! I bet nobody even know about this. It's all a secret that you've got me because you KNOW it's wrong!"

"Harry…"

"Don't Harry me! I'm your prisoner, your victim. Don't make this out to be some noble sacrifice! You people are all-"Harry yelled

"What's going on here?" Came a voice from the doorway. Parkinson entered the room looking furious.

"The boy is upset." The young woman replied

"And you are incapable of handling him. You were under strict instructions not to engage in unnecessary conversation or waste pain relief. I noticed a vial missing and came to investigate. You have no idea how that will react with the other potions. Get out! You are now officially reassigned." The woman edged away.

Parkinson turned on Harry "You've lost radio and food for the rest of the day." She then grabbed the other woman and dragged her from the room, slamming the door behind her.

Harry was left alone with the silence. He was very worked up. He struggled fruitlessly. Harry knew his wrists and ankles were a mess. He didn't even know why he continued to struggle. The small chance that he might escape and a desire not to give up fuelled him. After a while Harry gave up, defeated as he saw blood seep from the bonds, and he fell into a fitful sleep.

Over the next week Harry got more and more ill. He could no longer keep food down and slept most of the day. Nosebleeds and headaches filled his waking hours with misery. Harry had lost all hope of rescue. Last night Parkinson had bragged to Fudge that Harry had less than a week to live and that the bomb that Harry's blood would fuel was ready.

They had agreed that in 48 hours Harry would bleed to death to complete the bomb. The fear and anger however had not fizzled into acceptance by physical weakness, The constant barrage from all sides prevented that.

Harry lay there feeling a small trickle of blood run from his nose and down the side of his face. It wasn't supposed to end like this. He was angry that no rescue had occurred. The people on the radio were now reporting him missing and appealing for information.

"If anybody has seen the boy-who- lived please floo the ministry as soon as possible" The news reader said calmly.

Harry rolled his eyes. The-boy-who-lived – they weren't even using his name. Another stomach cramp hit and Harry screamed.

In screaming it was as though someone had flipped a switch. Harry felt the displaced magic within him give a giant heave and he was surrounded by a blast of white light that shook the building.

The magic flew through Harry's body, stemming the nosebleed and dulling the stomach pain before heading to Harry's brain. Harry lost consciousness.

Someone was holding Harry's hand. Harry turned and looked at his headmaster. He could feel that his face was wet with tears.

"Are you alright Harry?"

Harry sat up and extracted his hand. The memories Harry had just relived were swimming in his mind.

"I dunno." Harry replied. "How long did it take?"

"Just over 2 hours." Albus replied.

Harry stood up gazing at his shoes, "I understand why you didn't want me to remember that."

"Would you like a snack?" Molly asked

"No." Harry said in a daze "I need to go upstairs. I'm –uh- tired"

"Ok" Lupin said "Yell if you need anything"

"I'll come back and speak with you in the morning Harry." Dumbledore said.

Harry shuffled from foot to foot for a while before retreating up to his room shutting the door behind him. Harry sat on the floor by his bed, as he couldn't quite bring himself to lie down on it. Harry paced in his room for several hours, trying to make sense of the new information. Harry felt the need to prove that he was more than a weapon, but that's what he was. The only thing with the power to vanquish the dark lord.

At midnight, Harry pulled his pillows and blanket to the floor and fell asleep.


	8. chapter 8

Experiment

Chapter 8

Harry began to dream.

/Harry lay in the bed in the institution, surrounded by his captors. They were discussing him like he was a piece of meat.

Suddenly they all reached up and put their hands to the faces, that now appeared terribly mask like. One by one they pulled off their masks. Surrounding Harry was now the entire order of the phoenix.

"No!" Harry yelled.

"The weapon will be ready in a few weeks" Lupin said, consulting a clipboard.

Moody handed a dagger to Dumbledore.

"We will collect the blood in this", Dumbledore said, indicating a strange container beside Harry. "I'll make an incision. Molly be ready to collect the blood."

"I'm glad we've finally found a use for the boy" Snape noted coldly.

"The perfect use I'd say" Said McGonnagall "He shows little talent for anything other than getting people killed"

Dumbledore raised the knife/

Harry screamed and thrashed around as he awoke. Harry's door swung open with force and Arthur Weasley came running in. Harry disentagled himself from the blankets and got up shaking.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked

"nightmare" Harry answered.

"Why were you sleeping on the floor?"

Harry gazed at the bed and shrugged.

"Come on." Arthur said finally catching on. "Breakfast's ready."

With Arthur's arm protectively flung about his shoulders Harry walked downstairs.

Dumbledore was alone at the dining table being served saudages by molly Weasley.

"Where's everyone else?" Harry asked

"Still in bed." Arthur replied.

"Are you more hungry today?2 Molly said

"yeah" Harry replied.

Molly gave harry a plate of full English breakfast before sitting down to eat her own. Pouring himself a sup of coffee Arthur sat down.

"Sounded like a horrible nightmare" The man commented.

"It was." Harry agreed and tucked into a slice of toast. Dumbledore looked up

"Did it relate to your capture?"

"Yes." Harry answered "are you here to question me?"

"Yes Harry. I already know a great deal from the notes they kept on you, but things like names, descriptions, how each treated you…"

"There were loads of people, I don't remember all of their names."

"Can you give me any?"

Harry took a deep breath and stalled for time by eating some egg.

"Parkinson, a relative of pansy." Dumbldore nodded at harry to continue. "She was in charge, and treated me the worst. A woman names Collins, a man who tried to possess me over and over again. There was a young womsn, she was young, blonde. She was told off for talking to me and giving me a painkiller."

Harry took a deep breath trying to think of something else that might be useful.

"fudge was there a lot."

"The minister!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Hetold me that my power was not to be trusted in my on control. The ministry had to take it." Harry started to shake slightly, so balled his hands into fists. Molly sniffed.

"Harry, whatever he said tp you, it wasn't true."

"Isn't it?" Harry asked. "They were right. I am a weapon and until I defeat him I'll never be a real person. Either that or I'll be destroyed in the attempt. I was so lonely there, it gave me time to think."

"You aren't just a weapon Harry. You are a person, with a great destiny." Arthur said in a fatherly tone.

Harry sighed "Kill or be killed, yeah, really great."

"If you think that's all you are, you are as short sighted as Cornelius." Dumbledore stated.

Harry looked down and ate his breakfast with more gusto than before. Eventually he said "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"That's entirely up to you. It will be hard but you will get over this. We are all here for you. When you are ready to begin training your magic let me know. Our aim is not to make you our weapon, but to give you the best chance possible at winning a fight you cant escape." Dumbledore placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I need to go now and inform the wizengamot of your ordeal and present the evidence. I will not allow fudge to get away with this. Molly, thank you for breakfast."

Harry said his goodbye to Dumbledore and took a drink of pumpkin juice, beginning to feel slightly better about himself. The sooner fudge was out of office the better for everyone.


End file.
